What are the methods of sales forecasting?

In the simplest terms, sales forecasting is known to be an estimation of the volumes of sales which a company expects in a planned period. Apart from just sales predicting, sales forecasting is the process of matching the opportunities with the marketing efforts of the sales force.

1. Qualitative Methods of Sales Forecasting:

These are subjective, judgemental, and intuitive methods of forecasting. Qualitative predictive sales forecasting methods are primarily used when there is either little or absolutely no historical data available for the product or service. In this case, the trends which have been observed do not work. 

 

 The qualitative methods of forecasting rest on the judgments either of the professionals or people’s collective knowledge based on the industry analysis. 

 

 The main qualitative forecasting methods include:

 

 A: Delphi method

 B: Survey of buyers’ expectation method

 C: Expert’s opinion method

 D: Salesforce composite method

 E: Historical analogy method

 

 

 2. Quantitative Methods of Sales Forecasting: Like the qualitative method, in the case of the quantitative methods, there is relevant data available. Here the judgments are based on the analysis of the real-time data instead of assumptions. When it is relevant and proper sales data and factor information is present, the sales manager uses quantitative or mathematical forecasting methods.